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Monday, June 16, 2014

‘Prayers for Likes’ Facebook Scam

Pictures of sick babies circulate through social media sites, especially through Facebook.

These images are of sick children, less fortunate families, and persons with deformities.

Specifically, a sick baby with hospital equipment in the background
which claims that liking the image equates to a prayer for the child
while sharing equates to one hundred prayers.

The disgraceful scam is designed to accumulate likes for a Facebook Page and promote the Page for more shares.

The image of the baby was stolen from a personal Facebook profile and is being circulated without the baby’s parents permission.

This is how most Facebook scams work. Pictures are distributed and
not authorized to be shared, then stolen from its rightful owners.

Tragically, the baby in the picture passed away only two weeks after she was born.

The message continued to circulate, causing great distress to the baby’s family.

If you see messages like this on Facebook, please do not like or share it.

Analysis

Like farming and sharing messages will not help the baby or the
baby’s family in any way. The message is just a tic in the long branch
of sick baby hoaxes that falsely claim that you can help a baby by
liking or sharing the message.

Some messages claim that money will be donated in exchange for liking
or sharing. Others declare that liking and sharing equates to prayers
for the child.

The people who create these messages are driven by greed and selfishness.

This precious baby passed away April 2014, just weeks after she was born.

Whether or not you believe that prayers will help, the real intention of this scam is not pure.

Facebook has removed some of these messages and continues to take them down in a timely manner.

Although, there have been numerous reports, there are still some messages that continue to circulate with no action taken.

If you see scams like this, please report them to Facebook as soon as possible.